The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and, more particularly, to conveyors constructed of one or more conveyor belts having article-supporting rollers arranged to rotate on axes oriented at multiple angles relative to the direction of belt travel.
Singulating conveyors are used to convert a bulk flow of conveyed articles into a single stream of individual articles separated in the direction of flow. Roller conveyors in various configurations with and without associated conveyor belts are often used for this purpose. But roller conveyors are notoriously noisy and subject to wear. Modular roller-top conveyor belts have also been used in applications requiring the de-clustering of a cluster of conveyed articles. In particular, modular roller-top conveyor belts with rollers arranged to rotate about axes oblique to the direction of flow are used to direct conveyed articles to a side or center of the belt for delivery to a downstream or center conveyor belt driven at a higher speed to separate articles from one another. But these schemes require the use of multiple belts in series or parallel belts driven at different speeds, making for a complicated drive assembly and belt arrangement.
Thus, there is a need for a conveyor system capable of de-clustering a mass flow of articles without the shortcomings of conventional singulating conveyors.